Scientists to develop deep ocean seismic network

If you don't understand that seismic sensors are essentially different from hydrophones listening for submarines (SOSUS), then you really have nothing to say here. One of the BIG issues in Geology is understanding how earthquakes on one side of the Pacific relate to earthquakes on the OTHER side of the Pacific, and it is entirely possible this system, if successful, will go a long ways towards ANSWERING that question. What does THAT mean? It means if there is a big earthquake in someplace like JAPAN, then perhaps we might be able to establish whether the shock waves from that will have any effect on CALIFORNIA. Make sense now? This si what the US Geological Survey dept is FOR, and this is a TINY amount of money that may well be of ENORMOUS benefit for those who live in earthquake-prone places along the coast, so GET OVER IT!

Seismic sensors on the seafloor detect earthquake shockwaves traveling through rock. SOSUS detected sound waves traveling through seawater. Big difference. Big earthquakes under the ocean almost always produce tsunamis. An immediate benefit from a network of seismic sensors would be to give warning of such a tsunami. I think everyone would agree that avoiding loss of life such as from the Indian Ocean tsunami and the recent event that hit Japan, is well worth $1million.

For all you folks without any knowledge of the facts, earthquakes move both the air and the water creating low frequency sonic waves that can be detected in water thousands of miles away. Air sonic waves have been detected from strong quakes traveling around the world. You don't have to have some motion detector buried in the ground to detect a quake. Small quakes are more easily detected by such a detector but large quakes are the one we need to be concerned about and they create by sonic waves in both the ocean and air.

James you still don't get it. the Navy has a network of sea floor sensors that they maintain to located submarines. There is no reason outside of not invented here that they could not add a sesmic sensor to those sensors as they go through the routine life cycle servicing. The total cost would be the same and we would get continous data instead of this point data of only a few weeks or months. Neither you nor I even know if the Navy has sesmic sensors already on the their platforms to elliminate false signals confusing signals from submarines, as earthquakes create low frequency sonic waves in the ocean it would seem resonable to expect them to already have that capability built in to their equipment.

Week-old story!!

Though delay, it's a effictave plan for modern age. Hope this plan applicable for hole world.

1 million is all they got? That sucks.

Ready for another big one, folks?

Drone surfboards, cool dude.

They reinvented the SOSUS program from back in 1961, which could also pick up seismic activity ... the poster below me apparently hasn't read the earth quake reports SOSUS has detected.

Hey, Michael... still fishing for A-T-T-E-N-T-I-O-N?

I guest they are trying to find Megatron down there! More wasted money.

I think they should just leave the ocean alone already.

It is just an extention of the "report anything bad said about Obama" request from the White House. They need to listen and see if any of the fish are making negative remarks about him.

frederic, see my post, we already have a network that detects submarines and could work just as well for science. Some guy just wants your money in his pocket.